On Nov. 8th, Mr. Liu, Malaysian, was packing for home. He is well-proportioned with a ruddy face. He looks perfectly well with no sign of illness.
In May 2017, Mr. Liu went to local hospital in Malaysia for checkups because dark red blood was found in his stool. His pathological biopsy indicated rectal adenocarcinoma stage III. He underwent rectal cancer excision in June and the surgery was successful. In September 2018, multiple liver metastases were noted when he received review at the local hospital. The best oncologist there told Mr. Liu that only chemotherapy could help him at the moment to control the cancer, yet not all, maximum 20% and his life span was expected to be merely 2-3 years. Upon hearing this news, Mr. Liu turned to Internet for more information on cancer treatment...... until he met a Malaysian Datuk whose father was treated in Fuda Cancer Hospital. He learned that Fuda, affiliated to Jinan University, enjoys an international reputation for treating cancer patients with minimally-invasive technologies. He did not come to Fuda at once, though, as Datuk suggested. Instead, he kept studying hospital around the world to understand the difference among these hospitals and treatment offered. After phone call consultations with different hospitals, he finally chose Fuda Cancer Hospital (Fuda).
His families and friends thought that treatment in Fuda is Chemotherapy, the same as what Malaysian hospital offers and there was no need to go to China. However, the doctor’s advice from Fuda gave him great confidence that convinced him to go to China. On October 21st this year, he was admitted to the Fuda where his treatment plan was discussed and agreed by a team of experts, led by President Niu Lizhi, Chief surgeon for Cryosurgery in Fuda. Four days later, Mr. Liu underwent cryosurgical ablation with liver tumor biopsy.
Cryosurgical ablation is a new minimally-invasive treatment technique that only requires local anesthesia, not general, at the puncture site since there is no obvious discomfort during the surgery. Under the guidance of ultrasound that monitors the liver tumor as a target area, cryo-probes were inserted into tumor through the puncture point. After CT scan confirms the position of probes, two cycles of freezing process for the tumor with each cycle 15 minutes were performed. After freezing process, CT scan, again, confirms complete ablation of the tumor. The last stage of the treatment is rewarming, after which Cryo-probes were removed. The puncture point was bound up and intraoperative bleeding was only 2ml. Since the establishment of Fuda Cancer Hospital, the cryosurgical ablation team led by Vice President, Niu Lizhi has treated more than 10,000 cases of cancer patients with this technique, outnumbering any other hospital alone. For this reason, the International Society of Cryosurgery has accredited Fudan Cancer Hospital as training center in the Asia-Pacific region.
During chemotherapy, Mr. Liu complained of no discomfort and often called his family to share his condition. “None of my friends in Taiwan and Malaysia knows that there is a cancer hospital in Guangzhou, China that provides these advanced treatments. I hope Fuda Cancer Hospital can increase publicity and let more cancer patients know about it so that more patients can benefit from these effective treatments."
Mr. Liu told us, when he was about to leave, that the medical personnel of Fuda Cancer Hospital are really nice to me, the chemotherapy here is very different from that in Malaysia. The chemotherapy in Malaysia is systemic and it induces serious side effects such as vomiting and hair loss. And your mental state suffers as well. The treatment here is targeted local treatment that can greatly reduce the damage to normal cells in your body. After the treatment, I can have normal life immediately, eating and bathing, which was difficult for me if I had traditional chemotherapy. I am energetic with a ruddy face, and I don’t feel I’m sick."
Mr. Liu came to Fuda alone and refused his families’ company. He told his family on the phone, "The medical personnel here like my loved ones and they take care of me as my family does. I made many friends here." Before he left, he said he was looking forward to having another chat with us when he comes back for the next cycle of treatment.
The “beautiful encounter” between Mr. Liu and Fuda Cancer Hospital indicates a good example of the “BEU” service concept of Fuda, namely Basic, Expected and Unexpected service. Fuda provides reliable treatment to treat your disease and heartfelt service to warm your heart, both contributing to the growing Fuda Family.
